India crypto massacre claims another victim

The hostility that India’s government views cryptocurrency with has claimed yet another exchange. This time, it is Cryptokart and as was the case in other closures, the reason is the country’s central bank. More specifically, the RBI has effectively declared war on the crypto industry by directing all established financial entities to not do business with any firm involved in the crypto market. This latest casualty is expected to be just one of many.

The closing of the business was announced via LinkedIn post by Gaurang Poddar, the co-founder of Cryptokart. In the post, he explained why they were shutting down their operations and without surprising anyone, it is because of the RBI. Simply put, being squeezed due to the lack of service avenues has effectively choked its business to oblivion.

“We've decided to shutdown Cryptokart. While its difficult, given the hard work we've put in, its been a great experience and I'm glad to have gotten to work with such a talented and passionate team, and proud of the platform we've built,” he wrote. “If you know anyone interested in launching their own exchange, please let me know.”

In the comments section, Poddar also responded to someone who brought up the reasons for shutting down. He outlined the factors that went into the decision and why there was no other outcome than what he and his partner had come to.

“[T]he general interest in crypto in India has tanked. Also since the govt aren’t going to introduce any regulations and leave it grey for a while, it just makes any long term planning difficult,” the response reads.

As of now, crypto coins are still not considered legal tender in India, Medianama reports. Just recently, a copy of a draft bill, entitled “Banning of Crypto Currency & Regulation of Office Digital Currency Bill 2019,” which seeks to ban cryptocurrencies in India, has surfaced online.

As reported, the document stated that the use of cryptocurrencies as a medium of exchange, store of value, and/or unit of account is banned in the country. It also prohibits its use as legal tender at any place in India.